Report: YouTube set to acquire Twitch for $1 billion

UPDATE:Verge is reporting more information about this expected deal. Verge is further confirming that YouTube is in fact buying Twitch, but stating that Microsoft tried also buying them. Twitch ended up deciding on YouTube deal. The deal is still in the works between the two companies.

Microsoft and others have made serious approaches to Twitch, said the person, but YouTube was deemed the better fit. It’s unlikely that the gamer-friendly Twitch would have wanted any part of a deal that would tie the service to Xbox, as it’s embedded in Sony’s rival PlayStation console as well. A source familiar with the deal says that Twitch likely would have rejected a billion dollar offer from other companies, but was willing to accept it as part of a partnership with YouTube.

A new report from Variety is stating that Google’s YouTube is about to buy the most popular video game streaming website, Twitch, for over $1 billion dollars. Variety is reporting that a deal between the two companies is about to be announced. Twitch has become the most prominent video game streaming website over the last few years.

Twitch has become a popular place for gamers to stream all sorts of titles, including Call of Duty. Recently, however, Twitch has garnered competition from MLG launching their own MLG.tv service, which major pro players have now started streaming on.

This acquisition would be the biggest acquisition in YouTube’s history.

Google’s YouTube has reached a deal to buy Twitch, a popular videogame-streaming company, for more than $1 billion, according to sources familiar with the pac

The deal, in an all-cash offer, is expected to be announced imminently, sources said. If completed the acquisition would be the most significant in the history of YouTube, which Google acquired in 2006 for $1.65 billion. The impending acquisition comes after longtime Google ad exec Susan Wojcicki was named CEO of YouTube earlier this year.

Google and Twitch have declined to comment to Variety; we’ll update as we hear more.

Well, I guess twitch is going to be a vlog stream now because they are going to copyright strike every freakin stream

Patrick Davis

Honestly, CoD is big but the fighting game community is bigger

TheShadowReaper

the biggest gaming streaming and YT community is by far League of Legends right now. and its only getting bigger and bigger. so no, fighting games have a small niche market. not even close to MOBA games and COD.

this is the worst thing to ever happen. now no one is going to be able to stream games on Twitch. why the fuck even buy Twitch if you’re gonna turn it into YT and make not even half the profits that it earns now. probably every single one of the Streamers will change to U-Stream or whatever other streaming websites for games are out there now. fuck you Google. fuck you with a cactus plant.

MichiganerE

When a website such as Twitch becomes popular enough, companies such as Google will buy it and turn it into their own image. It’s going to happen to Twitch and if U-Stream becomes popular enough, the same fate will happen to it as well. It sucks, but there’s nothing to stop a company as big as Google from doing whatever they want; besides, we’re just going to keep on using these websites, so the best thing that we as users can do is just adapt.

TheShadowReaper

i can assure you that if the changes are shit everyone will just change a website. its not like Google will buy all of them. if Twitch becomes shit no one will give a shit about it. and in this case adapting means catering to what Google and their shareholders want and not what the public wants. and i’m not ready to “adapt” in this kind of sense. probably will never be and never will.

MichiganerE

You don’t get it, Google CAN buy any website with the amount of money they have. No one will give a shit about Twitch? YouTube turned to shit and it’s still one of the biggest websites in the world. Also, we’re going to have to adapt no matter what, and Google doesn’t care about what you want, they’re a corporation. Every time a change happens to YouTube, we complain, then we eventually adapt to that change, that’s just how it goes. Also, you may not realize this, you’ve already have adapted to any change YouTube gets. We as users keep on thinking to ourselves, “No! I will NEVER adapt”, but the truth it, you already have. I don’t like the changes either, but I’ve gotten use to them, and if you haven’t already, you will as well. So stop denying it, because it’s the truth.

TheShadowReaper

with the difference that YT was pretty huge when the changes was made. Twitch is still pretty small even if it has a lot of streamers right now. also, i didnt adapt to anything, the YTbers did. if they respected themselves they would have changed and went to another website to upload their videos. some do but not all. definitely not all. they just respect their pockets more than they respect themselves. sad story but its true.

MichiganerE

YouTube and Twitch were both around the same size when bought, and you have adapted, you’re just denying it. But if you didn’t then why are you still on YouTube? If you haven’t adapted, you would have left awhile ago. Also, the big reason that YouTubers won’t leave YouTube is because there isn’t any other website that pays as nearly as much, not because they care more about the money. Sad story, but it’s true.

TheShadowReaper

i dont go to any other website because my fav YTbers are still on YT. where am i supposed to go and watch their videos if they release them only on YT? do i have an option? its true that i had adapted to the poor changes that were made to YT’s comment system and integration into Google+ but, since the guys and gals i watch are still on this channel and arent leaving anytime soon they make themselves part of the whole Google/YT problem. its not like this is my fault and i have adapted to it. they did and unintentionally made me do so too. i dont upload any videos so i could have gone to any website to watch videos.

MichiganerE

Wow, you just admitted to literally EVERYTHING I said in my last post, looks like this discussion can be done with now.

TheShadowReaper

admitted to what? that YTbers are the REAL part of the problem and not me? most of them arent even there for the money. what are you talking about? are you mental?

MichiganerE

Nope, look at my my post from two posts ago then at yours when you replied. You admitted to everything I’ve said.

TheShadowReaper

if you say so. i dont see it thought.

MichiganerE

But you did. You said you didn’t adapt to YouTube then you admitted you did. Then you admitted to YouTubers having to stay with YouTube.

TheShadowReaper

yeah but i explained that i didnt do so because Google made me. it was the people i watch on YT that did. i am always ready to leave YT, its not like i have something of importance there. as long as there are videos to watch i would go any website that has them. some YTbers have their own websites which is neat. and the YTbers themselves stayed with YT. what does that have do with me? its their funeral and they apparently drag along their viewers too.

MichiganerE

You keep on saying the same things in all of your comments, we can now finish this discussion.

TheShadowReaper

you keep on saying the same things as well. and you still make no sense.

MichiganerE

How? I’m just replying with logic. I don’t make any sense? Stop talking out of your ass to try to prove a point.

TheShadowReaper

and you still havent said why i lost this argument. its not like i have accepted any shit, i barely tolerate it. you seem not to know the difference.

MichiganerE

I never said that you’ve lost this argument, and you’ve said it yourself that you admitted to adapting to YouTube.

TheShadowReaper

adapted…yeah i used the wrong choice of words there. its not like i run into someone who knows what he is talking about so let me address this correctly in respect of your point making.

i never adapted, i merely tolerated the shit. i still hit my hand hard to walls when i run into the Google+ shit every day so yeah…thats that. as for the reason why i still am on YT. well…everyone else is. can you blame me?

MichiganerE

The hell? I know exactly what I’m talking about, I explained everything with logic. Oh, now you’re saying that never adapted when you said it yourself that you did many posts ago? Also, I’ve already stated the reason that everyone is still on YouTube, and no, I can’t blame you. But in my first post, I explained everything to you in the most logical way, so you shouldn’t of replied back to me in the first place.

TheShadowReaper

and you flip out because i change my words to actually what i wanted to say in the first place. well whatever. have a good day.

Adapted

You still watch your favorite YouTubers on YOUTUBE! Therefore you adapted.. Geez.. You still use their service after they made changes you dislike, you adapted to the changes. Accept it. It’s not like he’s saying by adapting you’ve sold your soul.

TheShadowReaper

yeah but its not like i had any choice! did anyone came one day and told me, here go watch videos here or on YT, what is your choice? no! the content makers still remained on YT. if you wanna blame someone blame them. and no, i wont sell my soul to Google anytime soon, although it pains me that i use their services.

MichiganerE

Well, what else can we do? We have to deal with it.

Siftblade of Rivia

Youtube+, cuz what are we gonna do? Switch to Vimeo?

MichiganerE

If we switched to Vimeo and that became popular enough, the same fate would happen.

Siftblade of Rivia

I know, Youtube is already so big though, that Google can do whatever they want to Youtube, and they know nobody would leave (unless it becomes a paid subscription thing).

MichiganerE

DON’T GIVE THEM IDEAS!

Siftblade of Rivia

Lol sorry D:

MichiganerE

Don’t worry, it’s okay. Besides, YouTube partners can have paid subscriptions if they have enough subscribers.

Siftblade of Rivia

I’ve adapted to it, but doesn’t make it any less shitty. If anything, Google just lowered my standards of Youtube by half.

Remember when the troll face was so popular? Who knew that 2 or 3 years feel like decades.

Bob Mit

True, the internet is changing fast.

Devin Wolfe

The comment section was so outdated its not funny.

Siftblade of Rivia

It’s an old video, that’s why. They didn’t improve anything with the comment section. I liked to post a comment and see who replied to me. Now if I post a comment, it creates a group thing, so that I see tons of comments that I don’t want to see. When I post a comment, I have to post it on Google+, no matter what. I also had to go through loopholes just to use my username instead of my real name. I adapted to it, but I still don’t like it. Half my comments also don’t even appear on videos. They get marked as spam, usually when I reply to someone, even though my comments are never spam. Thing is, when my comment doesn’t even post, I still get put into the group chat of the person I replied to, that way I keep getting notified on comments I don’t care about. The only two things I like is the ability to edit your comment, and the ability to block people on Google+ so that you never see their Youtube comments anywhere (PressFartToContinue).

jordanxbrookes

‘Made the comment section much better’, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Good one.

Here comes the copyright strikes, I stopped live streaming on YouTube after getting a copyright strike for playing music in my headphones!!! So I went to twitch but hell no time to find a new home again 🙁

Now, there is NO competition. Now there’s no hope in finding a website to turn to, and once again, we’re going to have to deal with this Google + shit. Fuck Google’s agenda or whatever the fuck it is. This is ridiculous. I was going to start streaming to Twitch more than posting on YouTube, but I guess that’s not happening! Thanks Google, you just bought your ONLY competition. We’re all going to hell in the video making world. Isn’t that wonderful?

Brandon

This can’t be that bad of a deal could it? Yea on second thought it probably is…

Tep Kok

Lmao MLG.TV is competition to twitch that’s the best thing I’ve heard all day

I’d rather have Microsoft buy Twitch than YouTube/Google buy it. In fact I’d rather no one buy Twitch, and left it alone.

RileyWoofimposter

Google is an evil corporation on a buying spree leaving nothing but destruction and virginity in its path. They’ve taken over everything and practically own the Internet. I bet they made Googe- because they couldn’t buy Facebook. Can’t wait for the future when Google buys out the government and doing things like buying groceries requires a Google- account. We need to start an online revolution so powerful it’ll last for years and students will learn about it in history class. Lead by are savior Bob, we will strive in sieges lasting years against all Google products with spam like Bob and penis ASCII comments. And we’ll throw in a couple Hitler ASCII’s to represent what Google is becoming. We will show those virgin dictators running Google how hard they’re fucking us over and how it’s affecting them in the long run. After our successful year long attempt to overthrow the dictatorship empire known as Google, we will have the last laugh having all Google- creators raped by a gorilla with no lube.

Bob Mit

Doesn’t effect me. I never use Twitch anyway except to RARELY watch stuff on the PS4. I use YouTube far more…never understood the fad of watching others play games.

GinsuVictim

I’ve used it to check out games I’m thinking about buying. Also, seeing how other people play CoD. I like to see what other people do.

Bob Mit

I guess that is good idea to go on the website.

Dr. Salim

When is the Snoop Dogg pack available 4 PSN?

Jay Evan

Could be worse. they could but deviantart, twitter, or turn Facebook into google+